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ofi Classic Cars is an automotive restoration shop in the metro Atlanta area specializing in pre-1974 vehicles. We offer everything from minor repairs to full frame-off restoration of collectable cars and trucks, including chassis, drivetrain, electrical, body, paint, and upholstery

Car evaluations – the good, the bad & the ugly

April 12, 2013

Car evaluations – the good, the bad & the ugly:

Please, please, please, help me help you. Twice in 2 weeks we’ve had cars in here and have been asked to “look over” them AFTER they’d been purchased. Both times the results have been ugly. We frequently look cars over (sometimes at no charge if the car is brought to us and it doesn’t require a lot of time and sometimes at a modest charge) But even at that, it’s money well spent for several reasons.

1. If the car is relatively sound but with a few problems here & there, it’s grounds for some additional negotiating on price.

2. If there are major issues, you have grounds for some big time price concessions or you are free to walk away if the cost of repairs exceed the car’s value.

We don’t “appraise” cars, as it’s between the buyer & seller to determine value, but we, and other shops like ours, can put it on a lift, check it out from top to bottom & tell you what we see, including the good, the bad & the ugly.

While we like to think that we’ve just about seen it all, we are frequently surprised at what we find, such as duct tape or metallic HVAC tape applied & covered with undercoating and/or bondo to give the illusion of a solid body or frame component. We’ve discovered tar paper glued to rotted frames & then heavily undercoated to give the appearance of solid steel, floor pans made of wire screen & bondo, shock towers literally built with bondo & painted.

I know “necessity is the mother of invention”, but I’m not quite sure what the necessity is here except a cheap cover-up for a quick sale.